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Thursday May 10, 2018 16 x ENTERTAINMENT

AROUND 100 top actresses and female fi lm directors will stage a protest on the

red carpet at the Cannes fi lm festival to support the #MeToo movement against sexual harassment, the organizers said Monday.

The announcement came on the eve of the opening of the world’s biggest fi lm festi-val, which, like the rest of the cinema industry, has been pro-foundly shaken by the scandal engulfi ng Hollywood tycoon Harvey Weinstein.

The women’s march will take place Saturday evening and is likely to include Cate Blanchett,

who chairs this year’s female-majority jury.

“It will be a march dedicated to the women of cinema,” Cannes director Thierry Frem-aux told a press conference in the French Riviera resort ahead of the festival launch.

“Not only Cannes but the whole world changed last Sep-tember” when claims started to emerge that Weinstein had abused dozens of women over the years, he said.

Weinstein is accused of attacking four actresses at Cannes, including the rape of the Italian actress Asia Argento in his luxury hotel suite when she was 21.

The affair has prompted the fi lm festival to set up an anti-sexual harassment hotline this year.

It has also further increased pressure on Cannes to address the glaring gender imbalance in its main competition and over-haul a dress code considered sexist by critics, with women stopped on the red carpet in previous years for not wearing high heels.

But while the jury who will award the Palme d’Or top prize features fi ve women and four men, only three female directors made the shortlist of 21 compet-ing for the coveted trophy.

They include French director

Eva Husson, whose fi lm “Girls of the Sun” will be screened on Saturday evening after the women’s march.

Fremaux rejected criticism that Blanchett’s appointment as jury head had been a quick PR fi x.

“She was fi rst and foremost elected president because she is a great actress,” he said.

The festival announced that women would also be in the majority on juries deciding two other major Cannes awards — the Golden Camera and Un Certain Regard prizes, reserved for emerging directors or unex-pected or marginal themes.

(SD-Agencies)

Female Hollywood stars to protest on Cannes red carpet

KATY PERRY sent Taylor Swift a real olive branch Tuesday, appearing to end a long-run-ning feud between two of pop music’s biggest stars.

Swift, 28, posted a video of the package, which also included a letter from Perry, on her Insta-gram stories account with the caption “Thank You Katy” and a double heart emoji.

The fi ght, which started as a dispute over back up dancers, has dominated the personal and professional lives of the two singers for more than four years and played out in their songs.

Swift’s 2014 single “Bad Blood” was believed to be directed at Perry. Perry, 33, described her 2017 single, “Swish Swish,” as “a great anthem for people to use when-ever somebody’s trying to hold you down or bully you.”

An attempt by Perry a year ago to bury the hatchet, when she apologized for past actions and called Swift a “fantastic singer,” was met with silence from Swift.

On Tuesday however, the singer said in her Instagram story, “I just got to my dressing room and found this actual olive branch. This means so much to me.”

An olive branch is known as a symbol of peace.

The olive branch, along with a letter beginning “Hey Old Friend, I’ve been doing some refl ecting on past miscom-munications and hurt feelings between us,” arrived on the fi rst day of Swift’s worldwide “Reputation” tour in Glendale, Arizona. (SD-Agencies)

Katy Perry and Taylor Swift put end to their bad blood

Katy Perry (L) and Taylor Swift.

MORE “Avengers” movies could be on their way, Disney said Tuesday, following the global success of “Avengers: Infi nity War,” which has smashed box offi ce records since its release last month.

Walt Disney Co. Chief Execu-tive Bob Iger told analysts on an earnings call that the fourth, already announced “Avengers” movie in the Marvel comic book franchise, due to be released in May 2019, would have a “signifi -cant conclusion.”

But, Iger added, “Given the

popularity of the characters and given the popularity of the franchise, I don’t think people should conclude that there will never be another ‘Avengers’ movie. There’s certainly a lot more stories to tell, a lot more characters to populate those stories with,” he said.

“Avengers: Infi nity War,” which brought together more than 20 Marvel superheroes, has earned more than US$1 billion globally, even before it opens in China.

(SD-Agencies)

Disney teases possibility of more ‘Avengers’ movies

Cate Blanchett (L) walks the Cannes red carpet with her “Carol” co-star Rooney Mara in 2015. Blanchett, who chairs this year’s jury, is likely to join the protest to be held on the red carpet. File photo